Govt. must attach more sincerity and sanity to its programs in the North- Swaminathan

UNP National list M P Swaminathan addressing a media briefing said , it is the disunity and self centered politicians who sowed it in the country which, he led to its devastation and creation of all evil forces. The Govt. must take a lesson from the past, and realize that it is by building unity among the people without differences of race , religion and creed that true re building of the country can be achieved. Disunity led to destruction. Unity only will lead to construction, he added.

Referring to the plight of the residents of the North crushed and crippled by the war , he said , the Govt. should . at least from now on act with more sincerity of purpose in addressing the woes and dire predicament of the Tamils in the North. The primary requirement for a community is education. In the North , out of 300 Schools , only 194 are functioning . There are over 86000 school going children , but only 26000 are at the moment able to follow classes.

Explaining in detail the acute sufferings and the hardships the people of the North are facing, he stated, 60,900 houses had been destroyed in Wanni. In Mullaitivu , 28,000 houses are damaged. The Govt. is under a duty to take speedy action to re build the houses. As the Tamil Diaspora has come forward to render aid to help the Govt. to re construct these homes, it is an excellent opportunity to use those funds and help the Jaffna people , he pointed out.

It is regrettable that, when Neil Bheune Chief of the UN Humanitarian assistance program had allocated US 337 million dollars towards development of the North, the Govt. has only used US $ 80 million . In other words the Govt. has used only 24 % of the funds which evinces how little the govt. is interested in the re construction in the North. The Govt.’s delaying this development means that the already reeling people in the North are being harassed further.

India has supplied 400,000 cement bags. That means only 8 bags of cement can be distributed towards rebuilding a house. This is certainly inadequate. The Govt. cannot be lethargic. It must take steps to look into the shortfalls and shortcomings in the assistance received, and urge the countries to help finish its development programs in the North, Swaminathan observed.

Answering questions raised by the media, he said, the UNP is always prepared to help the Govt. in the development programs in the North. But it is the Govt. due to its backstreet politics and secretive agendas does not want to enlist the assistance, he noted.